Finding freedom with meditation practice is a journey of personal and spiritual growth. We desire freedom from suffering and its causes —loss, grief, uncertainty, fear, self-doubt, lack of self-confidence, anxiety, depression, psychological and physical pain, illness, death.
Finding freedom is possible in this moment when we choose to take refuge in our own breath with meditation. It is not our circumstances that create the most suffering. It is our thoughts about and reactions to those circumstances that create our suffering.
Pause. Focus your attention on the breath. When your mind wanders, gently, and without judgment, bring your attention back to the breath. See if you can keep practicing, even when you want to give up. Sense into the growing experience of freedom.
Awareness of breathing meditation is a concentration practice of focused awareness. It offers us opportunity to practice focusing the attention, bringing awareness to notice when the attention has wandered, and bringing it back to the breath.
With awareness of breathing meditation practice, we grow our capacity for sustained attention and concentration and to shift our attention when we notice it has wandered. Being able to sustain attention in a way that keeps us grounded in the present moment supports us in feeling calmer and more peaceful. Being able to notice when our attention has wandered supports us in shifting our attention away from unwholesome thoughts that increase suffering and toward the present moment or more wholesome thoughts that support our wellbeing.
Meditation teaches us how to find equanimity, even in the midst of anxiety, loss, grief, and other difficult times. Practicing meditation for anxiety or meditation for grief, we learn the balance of allowing difficult feelings to be as they are, letting them go, and finding a sense of inner peace, even in the midst of difficult times.
Jen Johnson is a mindfulness coach and therapist teaching meditation for healing, creativity, and resilience. If you would like to learn more about mindfulness or develop a regular mindfulness practice, register for the mindfulness based stress reduction mbsr online course.